Recently there has a been a nation-wide trend to reform sex crime or “age of consent” laws to allow for the type of sexual interaction which occurs frequently between teenagers today. Before these reforms came into effect, high school seniors who dated freshmen or sophomores could find themselves the subject of serious criminal proceedings. Beginning […]

In this case, David Meggett was found guilty at trial of first degree criminal sexual conduct and first degree burglary. Meggett raises the following issues on appeal: Did the trial court err in denying his motion for continuance? Did the trial court err in denying his motion for a mistrial and his request for a […]

I recently happened across a blog post on A Law Clerk’s Journal (http://www.rayferlaw.wordpress.com) which summarized Florida’s DUI Laws. As an attorney who handles many DUI cases, I thought it might be interesting to compare the penalties for DUI in Florida and South Carolina. (I practice in Columbia, SC.) According to the article I read, the following […]

Originally posted on South Carolina Construction Defect Law by Clay Olson : With all the hype surrounding the Crossman decisions, it can be easy to miss other important opinions published by the courts in South Carolina. Recently, the South Carolina Court of Appeals upheld a punitive damage award challenged on the basis that evidence of similar…

In Dorsey v. United States the Court held that provisions of Sentencing Reform Act, which increase the amounts of crack cocaine required to trigger mandatory minimum sentences are applicable to offenses committed after the date the act was passed, but before the act’s effective date. The act was intended to reduce the disparity in sentencing for offenses […]

In State v. Tapp, the Supreme Court of South Carolina recently held that while the court’s rules require that objections to admissibility of evidence be specific, the rules do not require an objection to anticipate rulings of the court which will be made in the future. This is in response to the decision in State […]

So. Carolina v. Heller Following a jury trial, Christopher Heller was convicted of murder and ABWIK. In his appeal Heller asserted the trial court erred in 3 ways. allowing him to be impeached with his prior drug convictions pursuant to Rule 609(a)(1), SCRE, because the probative value of his drug convictions substantially outweighed their unduly prejudicial […]